


The Road Ahead of Us

by So_Ginelle



Series: The IwaOi Experience [6]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Based on a Little Mix song, Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Drama, Fresh Start, Friendship, M/M, New Opportunities, New World, Pain, Struggling, Taking Advantage, This is a continuation, new life, new start, only you, struggles, taking care of each other, the space between us - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2020-04-23 16:02:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19154335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/So_Ginelle/pseuds/So_Ginelle
Summary: Oikawa Tooru and Iwaizumi Hajime have finally escaped from the hell that their parents had put them through, and are free from the prison they used to call home. Now in a new city, they have to figure out how to muddle through their new environment to live. The adventure starts right off of the bus from their old city, and the two boys meet trial after trial in their new life. It may not be as glamorous as they thought it would be, but it's better than what they did have. Can the two boys survive in this new city without losing sight of what is really important?





	1. Day one: Off The Bus

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back! I am glad to be back and I am glad to be adding to this series finally! It has definitely been a long while, but I am glad to be bringing it back. New characters, new pain, new drama will ensue for these two, and a whole different kind of angst for these two to survive through.
> 
> Thank you for being so patient, and I can't wait for your comments! I want to know all of your thoughts and what you think will happen!
> 
> Please, I would advise you not to read this unless you have read the first fic. It’s the first one in this series. Thank you for stopping by though and I appreciate the hit!

The air was fresh. It wasn't exactly clean, but fresh was a good word to describe it as it was. In a city, it could never really be clean, but it still wasn't ripe or stale.

A good word to describe the air was new.

Everything about the city was new. The air, the surroundings, the people, everything was new. It was a new noise, it was a new set of faces, and there was even a different taste to the air, along with the smell. 

It wasn't exactly new in the sense that it was a recently created city, but it was just new to Oikawa Tooru and Iwaizumi Hajime. There were no new buildings being built that they could see in this unfamiliar city, the settlement of people had seemed to be there for a while, and it wasn't new. Not slightly.

For Oikawa and Iwaizumi though, it was unfamiliar, and they were ready to explore their new city. They were ready to let it become the usual for them. There was no way they were going back to their old city. There was no way they were going back to their abusive, neglectful households, where the parents were the worst things of all.

After a moment, Oikawa set his bag down and turned to Iwaizumi with a look of curiosity written in his expression. There was absolute joy written in his eyes, sparkling in wonder and pure imagination like they were. He seemed to be imagining the possibilities that they had. There was happiness in his face. But he was still a naturally curious boy, and that seemed like it would never change.

"What's up, Tooru?" Iwaizumi asked as he balanced his weight on his ankle that wasn't damaged. His injured ankle didn't hurt nearly as bad at the moment, but he had been resting it for hours. He knew that the moment he started to really walk around on it, the pain would flare back up and cause him agony. But for now, it was good.

Taking a moment, Oikawa smiled to Iwaizumi as he broke his eyes away from the sights of the new city they were in. "We made it. We are here... We are out. I didn't know that we were ever going to get out of there, but we did..." Oikawa said and he started to bounce gently on his toes, the excitement clearly getting to him. "But are you okay? Do you need to rest your ankle more?" Oikawa was curious, but he was also a concerned friend, and that concern for his best friend outweighed any amount of curiosity he had.

It seemed that the two boys were more than content to stand on the sidewalk where they were let off of the bus. There were still people from the bus that were swarming around them, but the two boys were content to focus on each other and stand close together, and didn't particularly care about the people that were around them still. They weren't being a bother. "My ankle is fine. But... Yeah, we did get out. I don't know what we are going to do now, but... you know what? We don't have to worry about that. We have each other, so we can figure it all out together," Iwaizumi said as he started to look at his surroundings again. They had said on the bus where they were going multiple times, but Iwaizumi couldn't remember what city they were in now.

As Iwaizumi stretched a bit, he was a little thrown off by the arms that were being secured around him. Oikawa appeared to be hugging him, and even though it was a bit odd for Oikawa to be doing so, Iwaizumi relaxed into the hug, finally putting his arms around Oikawa as well to return the action. When Oikawa pulled back, he rubbed the back of his head and he had a bit of a grimace on his features. "Sorry, I know you're not comfortable with physical touch, I just... I've seen it a few times, and it looked nice. I wanted to hold you like I've seen on television. It was always in passing, so I'm not sure if I did that right."

With a breath, Hajime shrugged. "It seemed right, like a hug. I don't mind when you touch me, it was always just when my parents or certain teachers touched me. But you touching me is more than okay," he said as he scratched at his side. "Do you have the snack cakes? I'm hungry and I don't want to have to use more money right now," he said.

The way Oikawa's eyebrows raised and the excitement that came across his face would have told anyone else that there was something odd about the way he was excited to get to help his friend. He wanted to make him happy, he wanted to be important to someone, and that person was Hajime. "Yeah! They are right in my-"

When Oikawa turned around to reach for his bag, it wasn't there. "Huh... I swore I grabbed it off the bus... Didn't I just take it off?" Oikawa asked as he started to look around a bit. He scratched his head in confusion. He could have sworn that he had just had the bag. He really could have sworn that it was just there. Wasn't it?

Sighing, Iwaizumi wasn't sure what had happened. He knew that it was there and he had watched Oikawa take it off. Someone probably grabbed it. They either stole it in the hustle of everything, or someone grabbed it by mistake and thought it was theirs. "You did. But it's gone now. That's alright though, we still have the cash. That's the only really important-"

"No! Your pain killers were in there! You can't go without those, I know it will flare back up again," Oikawa said as he turned his head back to Iwaizumi. "I just don't want it to be worse for you, I know how terrible getting hit in the ankle with a sledge hammer had to be. Or well... I really don't know, actually. I've suffered some of my own pain, but that was ridiculous even for them." The frown on Oikawa's face was purely innocent and he did seem to be really sad about the fact that he had lost the bag.

After a shrug, Iwaizumi put his weight on the cane he had been using. He tested putting a bit more weight on his ankle, and it seemed to hold out okay. "We can go find something to eat. It's a big city, there have to be cheap places to eat. If not, I can survive for a while. I'm fine, snacks or not," Iwaizumi said softly.

Nodding, Oikawa let his lip jut out a bit before he started to look around. "We can probably find a convenient store and buy some things quickly. I've heard that it's cheaper to buy food in a grocery store than it is to go out to eat. We have to conserve that money until we know what we have to do," Oikawa said as he started to walk. "We can find a place for you to sit so I can find a convenient store and get some food."

Shaking his own head, Iwaizumi gave Oikawa a look. "I'm not leaving you. That's not happening."

Raising an eyebrow, Oikawa slowed down his pace a bit. "Are you sure? I can find it and come right back," Oikawa offered, shooting Iwaizumi a look of concern.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I don't want to leave your side right now. I want to stay with you. I don't care how much my ankle hurts, I don't want to leave you. Let's find that store. I just need something small, that's all. It doesn't have to be anything big. You are right, we do need to save our money as best as we can until we figure out how to make more or decide what we are doing," Iwaizumi said as he walked side by side with Oikawa.

After a moment of silence, Oikawa finally spoke up. "I didn't know the city would be so bad..."

"It's a good thing I still have our money. That's all that really matters," Iwaizumi said softly. He cringes for a moment and he stops. It causes Oikawa to flinch and look at Iwaizumi with concern, wondering what his best friend his doing.

"Iwaizumi... Are you okay?"

With a bit of a whine, Iwaizumi pulls his weight completely off of his ankle. "I can manage, just a little slower..." Iwaizumi said. He took a look at his swollen ankle as best as he could, realizing his couldn't really see it until he took the bandages off of it. But he didn't want to halt their progress at all. For now, he was fine, or so he thought. He wanted to keep going so they could get food.

Iwaizumi took another step, and he flinched so hard that Oikawa had to catch him so he didn't fall over. "Or... maybe not..." Iwaizumi said with a sigh of defeat, trying to stand up from Oikawa's arms..

The concern was written all over Oikawa's face. "Let's sit, okay? There's a bench right there," Oikawa said as he motioned to the path. It lead into a park and there was a bench relatively close by. "Give me your bag first though, because that can't be helping you walk," Oikawa said as he reached to take Iwaizumi's bag off of his shoulders and slung it around his own shoulders. It only took a little pressure off of his back, which took a small amount off of his ankle, but it wasn't much. The boy was still in a lot of pain.

Finally, Oikawa put his arm around Iwaizumi's side and pulled him close, trying to support him, "Put your arm around my shoulder and use me to help," Oikawa said. Iwaizumi knew how this worked, because he helped with his teammates whenever they were injured on the field. Iwaizumi put his arm around Oikawa's shoulders and he let him help. The cane seemed to be going unused, but Oikawa was a better support at the moment.

Eventually, the two boys made it to the bench. They sat down and Iwaizumi pulled his legs up onto the wooden structure, pulling off his shoe and the bandages they had bought and he looked to see how bad the swelling was. He had managed to get this far. He had to get a little further. He had to, it wasn't exactly a choice he could just make.

It was just their life it seemed. The two boys would always have to do things they didn't want to do, it seemed. It seemed like they would be constantly suffering as well, but they just hadn't found the right environment to stay away from their suffering and escape the misery. "How does your ankle look?" Oikawa asked as he moved a little closer to try to get a good view.

Iwaizumi sighed a bit as he looked at his ankle. It was turning colors, and the skin had been a bit broken. It luckily wasn't bleeding anymore, but it was bleeding the two boys had found out as they rode on the bus. There were still band-aids covering the broken skin. "It looks pretty bad. But... it will heal. I always heal. I mean, my toenails grew back, and everything else has healed. It just... it hurts," Iwaizumi said as he started to wrap his ankle back up, cringing every time he tugged the ace wrap over where the sledgehammer made contact.

Honestly, Oikawa wasn't sure that he liked hearing this. He knew that Iwaizumi could endure a lot, he knew the boy could go through a fire or a flood, and would still survive. But now that they were away from their parents, Oikawa didn't want them to have to endure those things anymore. That was the entire reason for running in the first place. They wanted to live better lives. But at the same time, Oikawa and Iwaizumi had only _just_ gotten away. They had only just escaped, so he knew that it was going to take a bit of time for things to become better. They still had to heal from everything they had already gone through. "As long as you're sure. We can rest for a while though, to give your ankle time."

They hadn't walked too terrible far from where the bus had let them off to the bench they were currently on, but they were still making progress. It just might be slow progress, but it was still something. "We should probably talk about what we are going to do while we are here. We need a plan."

Oikawa was right. They needed a plan. When they left the night before, they didn't have an actual plan. All they knew what they wanted to get out of their parents' houses. Now that they had achieved that, they needed to figure out what to do next. Iwaizumi nodded and he looked at Oikawa, giving him a halfhearted smile and he shrugged a bit. "You know, I've been thinking. With my ankle, I'd be holding you back. I'm not going to be very much help, and I'll just be a weight pulling you down. So... if you wanted to leave me, I would figure it out," Iwaizumi said. He knew he had just said he wasn't going to leave Oikawa, but if Oikawa wanted to leave him, that was a different story.

As the air stilled and everything silenced around them, Oikawa tilted his head and parted his lips. His eyes became wide and he stared ahead at his best friend, wondering just what had gotten into the boy. "Hajime... I'm not going to leave you. It's not an option for me. I refuse to leave you," Oikawa said softly and he reached out slowly to take Iwaizumi's hand, grasping it tightly.

"I just want you to live your best life, and if you can't do that while I'm around, then please don't worry about-" right at that moment, there was a hand on Iwaizumi's lips and he was stopped from speaking.

Taking a breath, Oikawa shook his head. "No. I am going to worry about you. We are going to figure all of this out together. We are going to make this work and we won't stop until we have a better life. We already do have a better life, because we are away from the monsters. So don't think about that, okay? Don't think that I could possibly be living a better life without you in it, because I couldn't be. I have the best life imaginable when I am with you." Oikawa took his hand away from Iwaizumi's mouth and he put it on his cheek instead, just cupping Iwaizumi's face gently and using his thumb to wipe away the tears that Iwaizumi didn't realize had started to fall. "I'm always going to be here."

A gust of air chilled the two boys for a second, and they continued to stare at one another, but Oikawa did scoot a little closer to feel the heat radiating off of Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi sighed softly, but he nodded against Oikawa's hand and Oikawa pulled his hand away. "We will figure this out together, you're right. Let's... go find something to eat. I am hungry, hungrier than I realized," Iwaizumi said. He took a moment to look down at his ankle and he grimaced at the thought of putting his shoe back on, but he did so anyway and left it loose, tucking his laces into his shoe so he wouldn't risk tripping on them like he did the last time he had to put his shoe one. It was still very painful, but it would have to happen.

When he stood back up, Oikawa was there to help him stand. It was a bit awkward, because Oikawa was taller than him, but he was still providing quite a bit of help. "We never actually formed a plan, you know. But we can talk about it as we walk. First thing first, we do need to find something to eat."

That was when Iwaizumi sighed a bit and he shook his head. "No, we really should probably find a place to stay for the night. The sun is going down, so it's getting late. We need to really consider everything. I can go without food for a little while longer. Let's find somewhere to stay the night. Even just... I don't know, a wall to sleep against might be okay," Iwaizumi said.

Shrugging, Oikawa continued to help Iwaizumi walk and they continued down the road. It was a long road, and it was fairly busy. No one seemed to be paying them any attention, which the two boys appreciated. They liked being able to go on their own without the scrutinizing eyes of their elders or parents. It was a nice feeling to finally not have to fear being abused. "Okay, so... We will keep walking until we find a place. I am getting a little tired, honestly. It might just be because we haven't eaten since this morning though, so that could be it," Oikawa said.

Nodding in agreement, Iwaizumi watched his feet so he could make sure he wasn't going to trip over anything. "Maybe, yeah. It is getting late though, so that could also be it. I'm also getting tired though, so we should definitely find a place to stay before we go find food."

As the boys continued to walk, they had zero idea of where they were going. They didn't have a map. They didn't know anything about the new city they were in. The only things they knew were that they didn't want to go back home, and they didn't plan on it.

After about ten minutes of walking, Iwaizumi cringed a bit and he stopped, causing Oikawa to nearly stumble over him. "Sorry, sorry. It's my ankle again," he said as he lifted his injured foot, closing his eyes and taking a breath. "Maybe we can just go back there and I can sit for a bit?" Iwaizumi said as he motioned to some sort of alley they seemed to be passing. It was a covered alley, as there seemed to be a crosswalk from building to building overhead. There was a dumpster in the back and there were a few boxes beside it. Other that that, it seemed to be a fairly clear area. Both of the boys gave it their own inspection before they looked at one another.

"Back there?" Oikawa asked softly, just to confirm.

"Yeah, that seems good," Iwaizumi said before he started to walk once more. Every single step he took after that, he let out a sound for pain, but he just couldn't help it. It really was painful to keep walking. He knew his ankle needed to rest, but they just didn't have that time.

As they reached the end of the alley, Oikawa helped Iwaizumi sit down and he looked around after. That was when he scrambled to the area where the boxes were, and he grabbed a rather thin box. Then, the boy pulled the sweatshirt he had tied around his waste off, and he laid it on the thinner box. "Here, prop your ankle up. I can go find some ice, and I can go get us some food too," Oikawa said as he helped Hajime put his ankle up.

When Iwaizumi settled his leg on the box, he leaned back and put his head back against the building. "Thanks, Oikawa. Here, you'll need this..." Iwaizumi murmured and he pulled the money they had taken from their parents out of his pocket. He handed the envelope over to Oikawa, who blinked for a moment.

That was when the boy pulled open the flap and pulled out a couple of bills. "I'm sure this will be enough. Here," Oikawa said as he gave Iwaizumi the money back. Iwaizumi rose an eyebrow, wondering why he didn't just take it all, but he still took the money back and put it in his pocket regardless. He wasn't sure how much money Oikawa had taken, but he trusted the boy and he knew Oikawa had gone grocery shopping by himself before, many times.

It seemed that Oikawa knew what he was thinking though, so he smiled and he crouched down next to the sitting Iwaizumi, who was still a bit confused. "Hey, listen. I told you, I'm not leaving you. I promise that I'm staying by your side. There's not much I can do with the money I took, so I have to come back now, because you'll have the rest of the money and my sweatshirt, which is the only thing I own now," Oikawa said as he motioned down to the sweatshirt. "I will be back, okay? Just relax here for a bit. What are you hungry for? And I'm going to buy one of those big water bottles too, so we can share that."

Hajime thought for a moment. He really didn't care what he had to eat. He was just hungry. He'd eat anything at this rate. If it got to be too bad, he would consider eating bugs. He wasn't that desperate right now, though. "Anything is fine, really. Just find something cheap though, and something that will fill us. Maybe something that can last for more than one meal?" Hajime suggested with a shoulder shrug.

With a nod, Oikawa stood up and stepped back. "Okay! I'll be back!" he said as he took off. He wanted to go quickly so he could get back to Iwaizumi sooner. Oikawa looked behind him to see that Iwaizumi was watching him still, so he smiled and waved before he turned back around and continued to walk around the corner of the alley.

As Oikawa looked around the area, he realized that the two buildings they were staying in the alley between were a clothing store, and then the other building appeared to be a restaurant of some sort. But it was a tall building, so maybe there were other offices above the restaurant and there were other stores above the clothing store? It was a curious thing, that was for sure. Oikawa couldn't go looking for food in either of those though. Even though it was a restaurant, it appeared to be a higher class restaurant, and the boys wouldn't be able to afford to eat there.

So Oikawa continued to walk. He wanted to be sure he wasn't going to get lost, so he walked slowly, checking behind him frequently to make sure he could still make out where the alley was that Iwaizumi was staying in. Even though he wanted to get back to Iwaizumi as quickly as he possibly could, he also didn't need to get lost.

After he realized he could still identify the alley, Oikawa turned straight ahead to see a gas station, where people were filling their cars with gas. Oikawa looked to see where the actual gas station was, and he noted that it was a gas station with snacks and food inside too. Maybe he could find something to eat in there? There was only one way to find out he supposed.

Once inside, Oikawa smiled to the employee before he went to check the shelves to see what they had. Unfortunately, it looked like a lot of snack foods and not a lot of real food. But they didn't have cooking utensils, so real food was limited at the moment. There were a few granola bars though, and a box of crackers. He found a can of something called spray cheese too, and then he went to go get a bottle of water.

Finally, Oikawa had gone to where the soft beverages were dispensed and he grabbed a large cup and filled it up with ice and water. He figured they could drink it all before they used the ice for Iwaizumi's ankle.

After a realizing that he wasn't going to get anything else, Oikawa went to the counter to go get checked out. The cashier smiled and looked at the boy. "Just water and ice? I won't charge you for the cup, and ice water," he said with a smile. Oikawa smiled back to the man, and he seemed to be a friendly face, which was a rather nice change of pace. "Oh, and if you go get another box of crackers, or another box of granola bars, I can sign you up for our reward program and it will save you money."

This all confused Oikawa, but he just bit his lip and turned to the shelves again. There was no one else in the gas station. "What... do I have to do for the reward program? I don't have a computer..."

"Nothing at all. I give you this card, it will add points onto the card, and you see that machine over there?" the employee asked and he pointed to a machine that was by the door. "You just swipe the card there, it will tell you if you have earned enough points to earn free stuff. You can see all of the information you need right there. You don't even need a phone number. So what do you say?" the man asked with a smile.

It did seem to be a rather good deal. It was going to save him money, and it didn't require anything out of him. "Okay, so I just go get another box of crackers or granola bars and it will actually save me money...?" Oikawa asked. If it would save him money, he would do it.

The man nodded. "The granola bar boxes are actually on sale, more expensive to buy just one box. We are trying to get rid of them. They are two boxes for $3.50, but one box is usually $3.75. So go grab another box."

Honestly, this man was just being far too nice for Oikawa's liking, but he would take it. Maybe not everyone was so cruel in this world. Maybe there could actually be nice people out there. Honestly, he could only hope that there were nice people out there, because he needed some nice people in his life right now. "Sure, okay," Oikawa said as he went to go grab another box of granola bars. He then went back up to the counter and he noticed that there was pizza on little trays next to the cashier. "Oh, how much for the pizza?"

"That's the other cool thing! If you use our reward program, it will be just $5 for two slices! Nice deal, right?" the man said. He seemed to be hiding something behind his smile, or the smile was faked. Maybe he just did this because it was his job. Oikawa figured that could be the only reason. "What two slices do you want?" he asked as he opened the glass case to the rotating pizza tower.

Oikawa looked at it and he pointed to the meat sauce type and the pepperoni one as well. "Those two look good. Thank you."

The man nodded and got the pizza out of the case. He continued to ring in the rest of his food, he put everything other than the pizza and the cup of ice water in the bag, and he swiped a card of some form before he handed it to Oikawa. "This is yours. You can check your card information any time on that machine, okay?" he said and then he gave Oikawa his total.

The total was just barely under the amount of money he had, but he was just grateful that he had enough money for everything. "Thank you so much for your help. I appreciate it, really. I'm new to the city and it's nice to meet someone as caring as you. Oh... I have one other favor to ask. Do you have... extra napkins I could have?" 

"Sure do!" the cheery cashier said as he reached behind him to the stack of napkins and he put them in Oikawa's bag. "I'll be hoping to see you again soon! I hope you have a nice day, and thank you for shopping here."

Oikawa smiled to the man and took his bag, thanking him one more time before he left the gas station.

He was really a very nice man, and Oikawa felt very fortunate to have met someone so kind and someone that was willing to help him so much. He didn't even have to ask.

As he stepped out of the gas station, Oikawa made sure to walk in the direction of the alley he had left Iwaizumi in. He carried the bag and the pizza in one hand, and he carried the cup of ice water in his other hand.

The sun did seem to be setting. The sky was very orange and the sun was bright behind the tall buildings. Oikawa was nearly blinded as he walked towards the alley. He wanted to get back to Iwaizumi, because he wanted to see how his best friend was doing. He was hoping that the boy was doing okay, although Oikawa knew that being off of his ankle had to be helping a little.

When he finally arrived to the alley, Oikawa turned down it and smiled to see that Iwaizumi was still sitting by the dumpster, leaning against the wall. Cutely enough, he seemed to be dozing a bit. Oikawa walked next to him and took a seat, which did cause Iwaizumi to jerk awake. But he looked over to see it had only been Oikawa. That was definitely a plus for him, and it lessened his worry. "Hey, welcome back," Iwaizumi said with a sleepy smile, eventually yawning and stretching upward. "What did you find?" he asked as he motioned to the bag.

That was when Oikawa offered Iwaizumi the change the man had given him. It wasn't a lot, but they were going to save every cent they had. "Oh, I found some granola bars, some crackers and some sort of canned cheese. And I got two slices of pizza for us. I wasn't sure what one you would like, so I got some pepperoni and some meat sauce. It looked good," Oikawa said with a smile as he offered the pizza slices to his friend.

Inspecting the container, Iwaizumi opened up the box and hummed at the smell that went up his nostrils. It was a nice smell, and it was causing Iwaizumi's stomach to grumble a bit. He was definitely hungry enough to devour one slice of pizza. "Oh, I got us the water bottle, and I thought we could start with water from a cup. After we drink that, we can use some napkins that I grabbed to wrap up the ice and put on your ankle. How does it feel now?"

"Better. Thanks, Tooru. You're doing great out here," Iwaizumi said as he took the slice of pepperoni pizza. "Did you want this piece? Or we can split them in half?" Iwaizumi was trying to be considerate of Oikawa at the moment, thinking about what he might possibly want. Iwaizumi was trying to think of Oikawa's wants and needs, simply because Iwaizumi had been conditioned to think of everyone else other than himself first. He worried about Oikawa, and he worried about losing him. Even though he had said that Oikawa could go if he was being dragged back by Iwaizumi, there was no way that Iwaizumi actually wanted the other boy to go.

The look on Oikawa's face was just pure curiosity at this point. "Oh, we could do half and half! Sure! Do you want to split them? Or we can just take turns... or eat for a bit and then switch?" Oikawa was trying to come up with all of the possibilities. "You know, if I'm being honest, this is only my third or fourth time having pizza. My parents never allowed me to have it, and I was only allowed to have it when someone would come over to watch me, or they had brought home left overs. The left overs only happened when they forgot about it and it was about to go bad though. And that only happened once, so that's probably why I bought the pizza in the first place," Oikawa said.

That thought brought a frown to Iwaizumi's face. Oikawa's parents were just as terrible as his were, but every time Iwaizumi heard something about them, it caused Iwaizumi to frown or get angry. He couldn't stand Oikawa's parents and it was so heart breaking to uncover new things about his terrible parents like this. "That's awful. At school, we had pizza, but only once a month and we were only allowed to have it if we had been good for the week. I was allowed to have it every time, but sometimes I just didn't want it," Iwaizumi said. Oikawa nodded and he took the slice of meat sauce pizza out of the box, looking it over. "We can just take turns or eat however much of each we want," Iwaizumi said, answering Oikawa's question.

Finally, Oikawa nodded and took a bite. Iwaizumi had also taken a bite, and the two boys smiled at one another. As they ate their pizza, they just sat there and chatted mindlessly about things they had seen as they entered the city. It was just a change of environment for both of them, but they really did have a lot to talk about.

They finished eating and Oikawa wrapped his arm around Iwaizumi's shoulder. "How does your ankle feel now?" Oikawa asked with a concerned sound to his voice.

This was the very first time Iwaizumi had flinched from Oikawa's touch. He hated that he flinched to his best friend's touch, but it was just how it was. "Oh, it felt fine until you brought it up. But... it's still okay. I think elevating it really did help. That was a great idea, thank you," Iwaizumi said before he leaned into Oikawa's touch. if Oikawa was being honest, he didn't know why he had put his arm around Iwaizumi. It just felt like the right thing to do in the moment.

"Good, good, I'm glad it's doing better. The sun is almost down, so... are we just going to stay here for the night?" Oikawa asked, worried about Iwaizumi's ankle if he were to start walking more. "I'm okay with staying here for the night if you would rather."

With a shrug, Iwaizumi looked around. "Doesn't seem like a place for dangerous people. Yeah, this might be an okay spot," Iwaizumi said with a nod. He leaned his head against Oikawa's shoulder. "I'm sorry we don't have real beds to sleep on tonight. We may have to get used to this for a little while, though. If we can survive tonight, that it," Iwaizumi said.

A nod was all Oikawa could manage at the moment. "Yeah, we can get through anything. After what we've been through, I would be surprised if we didn't make it through tonight."

Oikawa did have a point. If they could get through living through the hell they had been living through before they made the jump to here, they could get through about anything. They could certainly make it through sleeping outside and find ways to survive.

They were a resilient pair, those two. They weren't going to stop until they found a way to make an actual living for themselves. They weren't going to stop until they were living a better life.

As the night continued on, the two boys finished their pizza, the water in the cup so they could create an ice pack for Iwaizumi's ankle, and they tucked the rest of the stuff into Iwaizumi's backpack. They fell asleep against the wall, leaning their heads against one another.

It was going to be an adventure.


	2. Week Two: The Shelter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so very sorry for the wait for this chapter. I have an excuse though. I was in the process of packing up my old apartment and moving to my new house. Packing and moving took a lot out of me, and getting settled took even more out of me. But I am finally able to write a bit more now!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

The days had gone on. The nights were growing shorter. The boys were growing antsy and very impatient. 

They honestly didn't know what was going to happen next, but they really couldn't do much in their current situation. Unfortunately for the boys, they were both fighting to survive in the most terrible conditions. Sure, they could have it much worse and they both knew that they could have it much worse. But they were homeless and they were fighting to survive. They just had to do what they had to do.

Sadly, the granola bars didn't last too long, and the water was gone pretty quick too. So quick that Oikawa had gone back to the gas station to get more water each time the water emptied. Each and every time, it was the nice employee that gave him the free water cup in the first place, so he kept getting free water. Fortunately for Iwaizumi's case, he had been resting long enough that his ankle was starting to heal up. It was slow, but he definitely felt like he could go walking and not damage it further than it already was. It was good that he could get up and walk around, because the boy was about ready to go crazy with living behind the restaurant and next to a dumpster, which really didn't smell the greatest. Luckily enough for the boys, no one had questioned them yet about why they were there. No one had seemed to pay much attention to them. They just threw the garbage in the dumpster and went back to minding their own business.

So when the boys were finally getting fed up of spending all day behind the dumpster, Hajime looked at Tooru with a sad look in his eyes. "Can we get up and go explore? I don't want to be stuck here longer than we have to be."

Taking a breath, Oikawa looked Iwaizumi over and bit his lip, before he opened his mouth to speak. "Are you sure about that though?" he asked as he moved closer to his friend, tilting his head. "I don't want your ankle to get worse... It's hardly been more than a week, and I don't want you to damage it further... And only to explore? We should at least set a plan so you're not walking around aimlessly..."

"I'm sure. I've been walking around back here slowly when you've been going to get water, and it feels like it is getting better. Maybe it wasn't broken after all. We need to figure out what we're doing next, anyway. We can't stay back here forever. Tooru, I want to survive. I don't want to die out here..." He murmured and he shook his head of the thought. He knew that Tooru didn't want to die either, living back behind a dumpster at the very least, but it was starting to get frustrating to not get to move anywhere, because he was so injured.

That was when Tooru nodded. "Maybe we can just take a trial run? Get you moving around a bit and then come back to have you rest more. I still worry that it's bad, and you're not being completely truthful about all of this, you know? I know you wouldn't lie to me, but maybe you just want to get out of here and you don't want it to be as bad as it really is..." Tooru was trying to make sense, but he was getting a little crazy sitting back in the alley too.

Shrugging, Iwaizumi looked down to his ankle. "You know, I definitely wouldn't lie to you. And when we get walking, if it starts to get bad, I will tell you and we will just have to stay back here a little longer. I will just have to deal, and not walk around more until it is finally healed." If saying these things would get Oikawa to let the two of them go out and explore together, he would absolutely live to these promises. As much as he would hate it, Hajime would commit to this.

The boys were desperate to get out into the world and find their new place to fit in. They wanted to find their own lives and they really wanted to find a way to make their new environment work for them. But they couldn't do it while sitting back behind a dumpster. It also seemed that Tooru wasn't okay with Hajime walking around on his injured ankle either, and was more than content to let them stay where they were while it healed. "Okay, so we can try going out. Promise me that you will tell me if it really does get bad, okay? Because I honestly do worry and I want you to be okay. So... Promise me that you will communicate with me," Tooru nearly begged, a sound of pleading in his voice.

Hajime nodded and smiled. "You know I can't keep anything from you. So I will tell you anything," he said and the boy reached for his walking stick. Tooru took it and offered to help Hajime stand once he stood himself. Hajime preferred to do it himself, but he also knew that Tooru really liked to help.

After the two boys were situated, they looked at each other and smiled. Their anxiety was running high and their nerves were telling them that they were safe back behind the dumpster and it was their best chance at staying alive.. But they really didn't want to stay back there for much longer. They really were desperate to get moving and find their place. They needed jobs. They needed somewhere to stay. They needed more than just granola bars to survive. Tooru and Hajime couldn't just live behind a dumpster for the rest of their lives.

So the two boys started to walk. Hajime was leaned heavily against his walking stick, and he groaned a little as he walked, but it really wasn't as bad as it could have been. Sure, it hurt, but it was a lot better than what it was. They got back out into the city and they were trying their best to remember where the restaurant was that they had been staying behind, because it was a good place to stay if they couldn't find anywhere else to go for a little while. "What do you want to do first?" Tooru asked as he looked around, adjusting their bag on his shoulder. He was kind of glad they only had one bag now, even though it was frustrating that someone had stolen his bag when he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't going to let go of everything else they owned, and he would protect this bag with his life. Though it did mean that Tooru couldn't change his clothing, because he had lost the other clothing he had.

Thinking about Tooru's question was hard for Hajime. He really didn't know what they could do, if he was being completely honest. He didn't know how to get a job, he didn't know where to go to go get free food from a food bank, he didn't know how to get help when they were only teenagers. It was really just a completely new game. Sure, their parents were absolutely horrible to them, but at least they provided them with the necessary things they needed to keep on living, as terrible as that really was with how many hoops they had to go through to be allowed to keep living. Their parents never gave them the knowledge they needed to survive on their own. "We can just walk around to see what we can find. I don't have an actual plan, but we need to do something different."

That was when Tooru sighed. "You're right. I don't know what to do either, but... Maybe we can meet someone to give us advice, or we will run into something while walking around. Who knows?" Tooru said, trying his best to stay optimistic.

Their optimism was dimming, though.

As the two boys continued to walk, they saw some boys that appeared to be their age in the park. They were in a different park than where the bus dropped them off, but they were starting to learn the area and recognize different things. So they knew how to get back to the restaurant. Maybe they could talk to these boys, though.

It was at least something.

When the two boys approached the others, the group of boys seemed to tense up a little bit, but one of them cleared their throat and smiled. "Hey, how are you guys?" he asked, and his voice was soft and calm.

Iwaizumi and Oikawa looked at one another and then back to the other boys who were just huddled around. "We're okay. How are you guys?" Iwaizumi asked with a bit of a forced smile. It was all he could manage, and he had a feeling that Oikawa wasn't going to speak up.

The group murmured between them and then looked back to the two boys. "We're fine, just hanging out. Did you guys need something?" a different boy asked, and his voice was a little rougher and a little more on edge than the first boy. It made Iwaizumi start to regret coming over to them.

"Well, honestly..." Oikawa said and he bit his lip, looking down. Hajime was a little impressed that Oikawa had even said anything. "We were kind of looking for some advice. This city is pretty big and we don't know who to go to for some help. We're new here and don't know anyone..." Oikawa said and he looked back to Iwaizumi, hoping that what he had said was good enough. Iwaizumi nodded to him in praise, because he knew that had to be difficult. He knew that Oikawa struggled to speak up to strangers, as isolated as he was in his home by himself and only being allowed to go to the corner store.

When the group stopped and waited for Oikawa to continue, the brunet looked to his shorter counterpart and they had a conversation with their eyes. Iwaizumi was going to continue the conversation, because Oikawa was feeling very anxious at the moment and he was having one of the tongue-tied moments. "So... we are kind of homeless and have nowhere to go. Don't pity us, because we wanted to get away. But... we just don't know what to do now that we're actually here. Do you boys have any advice? We don't have much money left, we only have a few granola bars... we just need to know where to go," Iwaizumi said. Oikawa stood behind Iwaizumi and looked down, feeling rather embarrassed at the moment. He couldn't exactly hide, as he was taller. But he knew he couldn't run. This was important.

They weren't used to asking for handouts.

One of the boys hummed and started to laugh. "Do we ever. All of us, except Yuu over there, live in a homeless shelter," he laughed and the other boys joined in on the laughter. This caused Oikawa to look up and widen his eyes. The two boys had heard about homeless shelters and food pantries, but they really just didn't know how to go about finding one. "We can tell you where it is if you'd like, but they are mostly full and won't be much help. We had a difficult time getting in ourselves, but I'm sure they will be able to help you out."

This was probably one of the best pieces of news that the two boys had been given, because they sure did need the help. How did they just happen to run into these boys? "We could use any help we can get, if we get in or not. So yes, please, tell us where the shelter is," Iwaizumi had said, giving a full smile to the group. He was very grateful, and hopefully this would mean that the two boys wouldn't have to live on the street anymore, or stay by a restaurant dumpster.

When one of the kids stood up, they pointed to a street in the distance. "It's West Field street. It's the Reconstruction shelter. So go four blocks that way, take a right, and it's on the end of the street. You can't miss it, the building is very clearly marked," he said and he then sat back down. The others seemed to nod in agreement, and Oikawa and Iwaizumi glanced at one another.

Hopefully this would be worth it. The boys had to start somewhere, didn't they? Oikawa looked back to the group and nodded to them, bowing his head a bit. "Thank you so much for your help! We appreciate it. If we had anything to give, we would. Hopefully we will see you guys around," Oikawa said, clearly feeling a bit more confident. Iwaizumi also bowed a bit before he turned and started to walk towards the street they were pointed to.

Iwaizumi continued to walk and he licked his lips, focusing on how his ankle was feeling. It was honestly not the best feeling in the world, and he could feel it start to twinge a little more. But Oikawa would make them stop, when they really had to get to the shelter to try to get as much help as they could.

"How's your ankle?" Oikawa asked, slowing down a bit and walking at a very slow pace. Apparently the look on the other's face gave it away how he was doing. Iwaizumi sighed at that and slowed down as well, just because he knew that Oikawa was less likely to make them stop if he slowed down too.

What was the best way to word this so Oikawa wouldn't make them stop all together? Iwaizumi hummed for a moment. He had to be quick, because he didn't want Oikawa to not believe him. "I can make it to the shelter, so let's keep moving. It's definitely not as bad as I thought it would get."

They really did have three and a half more blocks to go before they were even turned down the street that the shelter was on, and then the shelter was down at the end of that street. It was going to be a much further walk, but Iwaizumi was sure that his ankle would hold up.

Oikawa, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. "Do you want to rest for a bit? Maybe even just ten minutes so it won't start getting bad?" Oikawa asked, nearly stopping.

A groan left Iwaizumi's lips. "Tooru, I'll be fine. I know you're worried, but I can make it a few more blocks. My ankle is fine. Or it is as okay as it's going to be. So... can we please keep going?" Iwaizumi asked as he turned his head to look at Oikawa's face.

It was a rather drained face, and Oikawa wasn't looking so good. "Yeah... we can keep going, I'm sorry." Oikawa sounded very small, and Iwaizumi started to feel a bit bad. He wasn't so sure about what to do to fix this situation. When Oikawa took a few steps, Iwaizumi sighed and he cleared his throat, getting Oikawa to look back.

When Oikawa turned back around, Iwaizumi closed the distance between them and he wrapped his arm that wasn't holding his cane around Oikawa, just holding him there. "It's okay. No need to apologize. I'm not your parents. I'm not going to lock you in your room for two days without water for making a reasonable suggestion," Hajime said.

There was a small sniffle, and Oikawa sunk into Iwaizumi's arm, wrapping his arms around Iwaizumi in return. "I know, it's just... it's hard still. I keep waiting for the next slap across the face, or the next time I get screamed at for being a little dirty..." Oikawa said in another sniffle.

"I know. It's not going to happen. At least, you don't have to worry about me doing it, okay?" Iwaizumi said as he pulled away from the hug. Physical contact wasn't so bad when it was with Tooru, he thought, but it was still a little nerve-wracking at the same time. He took a breath and started to walk, Oikawa right by his side. He adjusted the backpack and continued by Iwaizumi's side. The hug certainly did help.

They made it to West Field street and they turned down it. When they didn't see the shelter close by, the two boys sighed and started to walk further. They couldn't even make out the end of the street yet, so they figured they would have a long way to go. But the two boys knew it had to be done. Even though Tooru was worried about Hajime's ankle, he knew that the sooner they did this, the better off the two boys would be in the long run.

Hajime slowed down his pace and Tooru glanced at his friend. "You okay? We can take another break if you want to," Tooru said with a hum and a smile, holding onto the straps of the backpack.

That was when Hajime shook his head and he grunted a bit as he tried to adjust the cane he was using. "No, I'll make it. Just a little longer."

"We haven't even seen a sign for it yet," Tooru said with a sigh. But regardless, they continued to walk and Tooru just slowed down to match Hajime's pace.

As they continued, a bunch of kids, no older than ten, had run in front of the two of them and they seemed to be teasing one kid in particular. That caused both Tooru and Hajime to be on edge, and Hajime couldn't take anymore of it as they got closer. "Hey! Give him back the truck!" Hajime said, as that seemed to be what all the teasing was about. The kids put their hands on their hips and shook their heads. "What are you going to do about it, grandpa?" the kid with the red hair said, nodding his head to Hajime to motion towards the cane.

Blinking a bit, Hajime stopped walking and looked to Tooru. "Listen, kids. I don't want to threaten you, but I will if I have to. Just give him back the truck, and no one will get hurt."

"But he doesn't deserve to have the truck! He is just a shy loser that hangs out by the library! Why should he get to play with the truck?" the kid with red hair said as he nodded his head to Hajime.

Tension crossed everyone's shoulders and Hajime sighed. "Because he had it first, and because he wasn't doing anything wrong and was minding his own business. Give him the truck back," Tooru said as he narrowed his eyes and took a step closer to the kid with the truck. The kids who were teasing the small, black haired kid, had backed up and the blond hair dropped the truck before they ran off.

The kid scurried to where the truck was and he picked it up off the ground, turning back around to the other two. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I... could have handled it, but thanks for stopping them from picking on me," the kid said. He had an awkward smile and he cleared his throat. "I'm Kageyama, by the way."

When the kid introduced himself, Tooru and Hajime smiled and approached him. "It's no problem. I'm Iwaizumi, he said as he put a hand on his chest.

"And I'm Oikawa. It's nice to meet you, Kageyama. I'm sorry they were teasing you, but you are going to go places. They will be nowhere by the time they are done with school."

As Kageyama shrugged, he brushed the dirt off of the truck. "Yeah, I really like sports. I'm just not very good at school. I hope I get on the school volleyball team in middle school."

That was when Tooru stepped back. "You like volleyball? I played football in school. It was lots of fun to be on a team," Hajime said and he looked over to Tooru, who was biting his lip, because he didn't know what to say.

The boy smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I like volleyball. I'm going to go. Later!" Kageyama said before he started to jog away.

"Nice kid," Hajime said as he stared back at the street and he started to walk again, still keeping up his slow pace. "That kind of shows me that we still have to be careful about this city though. There's no telling what we will find out here," Hajime said. "Just because we are away from the nightmare, doesn't mean it will be easy."

Tooru nodded and then he gasped audibly. "I think I see the shelter. It's a while away still, but we're getting closer!" Tooru cheered. He was bouncing a bit, which was nice to see that he still had energy in his steps.

Nodding, Hajime continued his slow pace and bit his lip. He was really done with this pain he was feeling in his ankle, but he really wanted to keep going and make it to the shelter so they could get the help they needed. They've been through so much that he knew he could make it further.

After another little while, the boys reached the front of the shelter. "I don't know how these work," Hajime said, looking at the building and frowning deeply. He was embarrassed that he didn't know how this would work, but he had a feeling that Oikawa didn't know either.

Taking a breath, Tooru shrugged. "I don't either. But we will figure that out when we get inside," he said as they walked towards the building.

Once they entered the building, there were many people inside who were sitting around and just chatting softly. They had blankets and other belongings with them. But nothing seemed to be obvious to either boy concerning where they needed to go.

As they looked back and forth to one another, a girl who was probably in her late twenties approached them with a smile. "Welcome. This is the reconstruction house. Can I help you two boys with something?" she asked in a soft, but cheery voice. She seemed very friendly and she seemed like the person they needed to speak to.

Taking on his role, Hajime cleared his throat and he nodded slowly. "Yes hi. We could definitely use some help," he said as he motioned to Tooru before he looked back to the lady. "We... need somewhere to stay. We are homeless and we just came to this city to hopefully find something to help us. It's a big city, so... could you help us?" Hajime asked, putting on a hopeful face.

When she tilted her head, she nodded too. "We have a few available beds. You were lucky to come at the time you did. We had two just leave us. Let's go get you all set up, okay?" she said as she took a few steps backwards and waved to have the two boys follow her. "We have a few ground rules, boys. I can't be too invasive with you, but I will have to ask some things. And then we have to check you for weapons, make sure you are healthy and clean, have you take a shower, then we can get you fed and set up in beds. What do you say?" she said. "Oh, I'm Lena, by the way! How about you two?"

Taking a breath, Hajime cleared his throat. "I'm Iwaizumi, and this is Oikawa," Hajime said and they walked into a different office. It seemed to be a fairly decorative office and the two boys were so interested to see everything that was there. But they knew that it wasn't important. Probably just awards and thank you cards. But it was still a very unexpected sight. The room was very bright and fuzzy. It felt very warm and friendly, something that the two boys were certainly not used to. They would have to take a moment to get used to this space.

Lena motioned to two chairs, and Iwaizumi took a seat with a thankful groan. It honestly felt like heaven on his ankle to get the weight off of it. "Okay, so let me go grab your packages. They have blankets, tooth brushes, soaps, and a few other things in them. Also, boys, I just have to say this. There really is no shame in coming here. Everyone gets down on their luck every once in a while and sometimes you just need a helping hand to get back on your feet. I was in your shoes only four years ago. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for this shelter. But you guys have another chance at another life, a life that will lead you to great things.

"Okay. So let me go get your packages, tell you the ground rules and what to expect and what we expect from you. Then I will take you to she shower area and we can go get you fed," Lena said and she went to a different door in the room. It seemed to be a closet of some form, and the two boys watched her pull out two tote bags. They were just black and they were completely full. She said they only had a few things in the bags, but maybe it had more than she was letting on.

When she came back over, she handed each of the boys a bag and they took them, giving her a smile. "Okay, so lets get you set up! I will just need to have your IDs and you two will also have to pee in a cup, as well as have a pat down to make sure you don't have any weapons. We will also have to check your bag there, Oikawa."

The two boys looked at one another. Iwaizumi went into the bag to pull out his school ID, but he wasn't so sure that Tooru had one. He was home schooled, after all. What were they going to do? As Iwaizumi handed over his school ID, the girl made a face. "Wait..." she said slowly as she looked at the ID. Iwaizumi took it back and put it back in the bag. "You two aren't... you two are minors, aren't you?" she asked quietly, sitting back in her seat.

Both boys nodded and Lena made a sad face. "Oh boys..." she said quietly. "It's not a worry. Hold on a moment, I need to go talk to someone and I'll be right back with you," she said with a sad smile and stood up to leave the room.

As she left, the two boys went tense. "Hajime... What if they don't allow teenagers, or kids without adults...?" Tooru asked in a quiet and sad voice.

The thing was, Hajime was trying to listen out in the hall, to see if he could make out what she was saying. "I'm not sure... Those kids are here, but maybe their parents are here too..." Hajime said as he listened in.

All he could really make out was the fact that she was talking to another employee of the shelter. The one word he heard was 'police', and he tensed up so quick that he nearly jumped out of his seat. "T-Tooru, we have to go..." Hajime said with his lip between his teeth.

He stood up and he tried to pack his given bag into the backpack. It fit, just barely, but the second one wouldn't fit. Maybe Tooru could just carry both bags? Hajime would offer if he didn't have to worry about his ankle and cane. "What? Hajime..." Tooru said.

"They're going to call the cops. We have to go," Hajime said as he looked at Tooru desperately. "We can't be caught. We have to stay out of their reach. Tooru..." Hajime said and he tried to pull his friend to stand.

When what Hajime had said registered inside Tooru's mind, he gasped and jumped up, taking the backpack and the other given bag. "Let's go. We... Hopefully we can sneak down the hall," Tooru said as he crept to the door.

That was the only thing they could try. There wasn't another door in the room other than the one for the closet. If they were smart, they would have grabbed another bag or too. But they were just far too worried about getting out of the shelter in one piece or being unseen.

As they crept down the hall and looked around, they didn't see Lena anywhere. The two boys rushed as fast as they could to the front door and they were nearly there when Lena called out. "Wait! Aren't you two going to stick around? You still have to shower and we still have to feed you!" she called out as she walked towards them.

If there wasn't the fear that she was going to call the cops on them, they might stick around. "No, we just realized that one of our friends lives in the city. We will stay with him!" Hajime called out in a lie as they walked to the door.

She reached out to grab their shirts, but she missed. "Boys, I have to insist you stay. You two are minors. I can't let you go out there on your own. It's dangerous for two of you. I know you two are probably mature, but we have to get into contact with your parents or lega-"

There was a flinch so hard from Tooru and he let out a yelping noise. Hajime shuttered and pulled Oikawa closer. "We're not going back. Come on," he murmured as he reached for the door and looked back to Lena. "Lena, we can't go back. We have to stay out here. Thanks for the stuff. Bye," Hajime said.

The look on her face said she was defeated and very confused. But there was very little she could do about the two of them leaving. Though, she knew what they looked like and she could tell the cops about their appearances. She also had their names, which was a mistake on their part. But it wasn't something that they could do anything about at the moment. All they could do was get out of there.

Hajime was feeling rather miserable at the moment about all of this, and his ankle wasn't making any of this easier. Tooru could tell, which was why he was carrying everything and looking out in front of them. They saw a police car driving towards them, so Tooru turned his head as if to talk to Iwaizumi as the car drove by so they didn't seem suspicious, and he pretended to act as natural as he could. "How's the pain?" Tooru asked as they continued.

Taking a breath and shaking his head, Hajime wasn't sure he could speak right now. He was far too stressed about the possibility of going back to his parents that he desperately didn't need to think about the pain he was having in his ankle to add more to his suffering. He would have it much worse if they went back, which was why he wasn't complaining about the pain. "I'm fine. Let's just get back to the restaurant. Tooru, thank you for carrying everything. I would offer if I wasn't in pain," Hajime said as he looked at Tooru.

Their walking pace was rather quick, especially with Hajime's broken ankle. At least, he was assuming it was broken. It hurt like crazy, but he wasn't sure it was broken. His father took a sledge hammer to it, so it was probably smashed. Walking on the broken bone probably wasn't helping it either. But what was he going to do?

After a few moments of walking, the two boys saw the group of boys they had met in the park, and they were walking towards them. "Oh hey, how did it go?" one of the boys asked with a smile.

Cringing, Tooru shook his head. "We... didn't get in after all. It's alright though, we will manage," Hajime said as he shook his head. He didn't feel like getting into their whole life story when they were still in danger of being picked up by the police.

"Why? No more beds?"

"Uh... yeah, no more beds," Hajime lied. He started to walk passed the boys and he motioned for Tooru to follow him. "Thanks for telling us where it was though. Nice meeting you guys. Later," Hajime said as he turned his back to them and continued to walk.

It seemed like the other boys wanted to argue about this, but neither Tooru nor Hajime wanted to stick around, so they just started to walk away. They kept quiet until they created enough distance between them and the other boys. "I had to lie, because they might have tried to give us away if they knew the truth," Hajime said.

All Tooru did was nod, but he stayed quiet. Hajime wasn't used to Tooru being this way, but Hajime wasn't quite used to being in person with Tooru, so he wasn't sure how Tooru normally behaved. Hajime wasn't sure what to expect from Tooru. It certainly wasn't expected for Tooru to speak up at any time, but Tooru looked up at Hajime and he swallowed audibly. "I don't want to go back... we... we can't go back. Hajime... promise me..."

The two boys continued to walk, but Hajime motioned towards another bench. He knew it was a risk to take a seat and take a break because they could be followed pretty soon, but Hajime needed to do this. One, his ankle felt like it could break off and it would be less painful. Two, he needed to talk to Tooru. 

As the two boys took a seat, Hajime cleared his throat and made sure Tooru was looking at him. "Tooru, I will do everything I can do so we don't have to go back. We aren't going to go back if I have anything to say about it."

"Hajime, I would rather die than go back there... I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to go back..." Tooru started to tear up and he hid his face in his hands. This wasn't what Hajime wanted, nor did he want to think about Tooru dying. But it was important for Oikawa to get his emotions out so the two boys could continue surviving. Hajime nodded sadly, agreeing silently that he understood and would rather die than have to go back.

"We won't go back." Hajime was doing his best to stay positive about this, no matter how hard it was to stay certain that they wouldn't go back. There was really no telling what would happen in the coming future. But as long as they were in the big city, they had a chance of surviving still.

This felt like a moment to have physical contact, so Hajime reached out and he touched Tooru's arm. Tooru didn't react, but Hajime hoped that rubbing his arm would help in some way. He needed to be Tooru's reassurance.

It took a few more minutes for Tooru to calm down, but he lifted his head and smiled to Hajime. "I think I'm okay. I trust you. We won't go back," Tooru said as he slowly stood back up and picked up their bags of stuff. He got himself situated and he licked his lips, looking towards the way they had to go.

Finally, Hajime stood himself up, and he took a testing step, closing his eye at the pain. "I know it's a risk, but could we walk a little slower back to the restaurant? I don't think my ankle can keep up the same fast pace as we were walking before..."

Nodding, Oikawa started to walk backwards. "We can take it at your pace," Oikawa said as he continued to walk backwards. "I wish I could carry you and all of this stuff. I'd be too weak though, because you have muscle. I don't," Oikawa said as he puffed out his cheeks and tsked gently.

Letting out a laugh, Iwaizumi smiled to Oikawa. "You don't have to carry me. I would feel weird about you carrying me anyway. I would appreciate it, but I can manage right now."

"Just you watch. Some day, I will be able to carry you," Oikawa said with a grin. He finally turned to walk next to Hajime instead of in front of him and backwards.

It was a slow pace back to the restaurant, but the two boys eventually made it. They were back to where they started. But they had gained some knowledge out of this experience, and the two boys gained a few more supplies to hang onto. And at the very least, they weren't back in their old houses. They were still free. They would take this over going back. They would take about anything over going back.

So as the two boys settled in for their afternoon and night, they sorted through the new things they were given and wished they had found a way to get food too. But they could survive on the two granola bars they had left for a little while longer.


	3. Week Three: The Dumpster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So.... about being able to write more frequently...... Oops? I'm still working on it! I'm just... tired. And now I have two jobs, so joy! I hope you enjoy!

The air was brisk that morning, filling up the city with a thin layer of dew and it left a reminder that everyone was at the mercy of the weather. It never seemed to stop anyone from going about their day, but it was there; the dew was present.

It was just like the dread that crept in the hearts of the two boys who were currently sleeping beside a halfway full dumpster. The dread never left and it was always sticking around to remind the boys that they were in a poor situation. But it never stopped them from continuing in their endeavors. It just clung to them like static.

Gasping in a breath of a yawn, Iwaizumi lifted his head to see that Oikawa had been curled up against his side. The two boys used each other for warmth during the night, as it was starting to get colder outside. It was also a constant comfort to have someone there to hold onto when the shadows seemed to be extra devious in the night and were up to their normal tricks.

"Tooru," Hajime murmured softly, pressing his face into the soft hair that was bunched up on his shoulder. It was getting greasy, as the two boys hadn't been able to shower or clean themselves other than when they could get their hands on some wipes or could splash some water on their faces. "Tooru, do we have any left over snacks?" Hajime asked. His stomach was starting to get painful from the lack of food that was inside of him.

The boy had let out a bit of a sound, somewhere between a whine and a grumble, before he lifted his head to look at his friend. The loss of heat was not welcomed, but Hajime just blinked ahead at the other boy to see what he had to say. "No, we ate the rest of them yesterday morning. We could go out begging again, but that didn't work very well last time..." Tooru said, his face falling as he slowly pushed himself to sit up.

Hajime did the same and he groaned as he rubbed at his stomach. He really was hungry. He knew that Tooru was used to being hungry, as his parents had a very strict eating schedule for him before. The two boys thought thought they'd be able to eat whenever they wanted to now that they were free. But they hadn't thought about the money situation or how food would certainly cost them money to get to.

So what were the boys to do? They couldn't just starve to death. They hadn't gotten this far to starve themselves, and they weren't just going to go back to their old lives just because they were a little hungry.

When a door opened up from the building they were next to, the boys flinched away from the dumpster hastily. They listened to something being tossed in before whoever was tossing something away had left the area and they were alone once again. "Those people are lucky," Tooru mumbled to himself, though Hajime did catch it. He would always catch things if it had to do with Tooru. "They get to eat food that was made for them, and what do they do? Just throw whatever is left over in the trash. It makes me sick. If my parents ever caught me wasting any food, they'd toss me outside and make me sleep in the yard for the night..."

"Did they ever actually make you sleep outside?" Hajime asked with a raised eyebrow.

Letting out a bit of a laugh, Tooru shook his head. "They wouldn't let me. They thought I would run away. I don't know why they would let me go grocery shopping for them and they trusted me with their money, but they wouldn't let me sleep outside. Not that I wanted to sleep outside, but it just proves how messed up their logic was."

There was a bit of a lull between the two boys as they thought about the life they had escaped. It wasn't too long ago that the two boys had to talk through a hole that Hajime had made in the wall and they had kept so many secrets and memories in those notes. They were creative in their form of communication back then. What was stopping their creativity now?

"I wish we could live like the people in the restaurant. I am so hungry. Tooru, I'm getting desperate," Hajime said as he pushed himself up to stand. His mouth was so dry and his lips were chapped and sore. His ankle was staring to feel a lot better. It wasn't completely healed, but it was much better than it was two weeks ago. He still leaned himself against the dumpster, trying to take the weight off of his ankle and give it rest. He knew that it would heal, he was just waiting for the day that he didn't feel the pain anymore.

After a moment, Tooru stood up too and he was eyeing the dumpster. He held onto his own stomach, because Hajime knew that Tooru tried to eat less and give Hajime just a little more, as he was accustomed to being hungry. But that didn't make it any easier, and Hajime knew that. "What _does_ happen to all of those left overs?" Tooru said as he walked a little closer to the dumpster. He pulled open the door on the side, as it never seemed to be locked. The smell was foul and could kill the leaves of a flower, and it caused Hajime to turn his face away.

As Tooru looked inside, Hajime could feel the cranks and gears in his friend's brain start to turn. This was not going to turn out well. Tooru reached inside and Hajime cringed. What was the boy doing? What would possess him to reach into a dirty, grimy dumpster?

When the boy pulled out a bag, he struggled a little to get it free from all of the other bags. It seemed to be a bit soggy and lumpy, and Tooru let it fall to the ground with a thud. The smell was still wafting in the air, but Tooru closed the side door on the dumpster. "Tooru, no..." Hajime said in a bit of desperation. "We're not _that_ desperate, are we?"

"Hajime, I am so hungry... The food hasn't been in there for that long, and whatever doesn't look good, we can just... not eat. But if we find bread, or vegetable scraps... We can eat," Tooru said with a bit of a pout on his lips. He sat down and started to untie the garbage bag before turning it over and starting to dump it out onto the ground.

There was absolutely no telling what the food was that had been dumped out onto the ground. Hajime thought he could see bits of potatoes, or maybe bones from something. But none of it looked particularly edible, and Hajime was turning his nose up. Although, his stomach was grumbling and screaming at him, so maybe this wasn't as terrible of an idea as it could have been. After Tooru dug through the trash with a napkin he had found in the bag, he widened his eyes a bit when he found a couple slices of bread. They didn't look particularly bad and they didn't seem to be covered in anything too foul. Though, Hajime was sure that it would be disgusting no matter how he looked at it. He wasn't too sure he could stomach eating someone else's leftovers that had been thrown into the trash.

"Here, it's a little stale, but it's not bad. And I'll pull off the sides here that were touching other foods to be safe..." Tooru said as he pulled the slices of bread apart, doing his best to save as much of it as he could. He then handed a slice up to Hajime, who stared at the bread and didn't move to take it. "Hajime, we have to do something... This will give us some energy, and we really can't be too picky."

Looking it over one more time, Hajime touched the bread and he took it from Tooru's hand. That was when Tooru started to pick apart the other piece and he took a breath. The boy had closed his eyes and he had opened his mouth before he put the bread in his mouth. Then his mouth clamped around it and he chewed. His eyes opened and he looked up to Hajime. "It's stale, like I said, but it's really not as bad as you think it is. It just tastes like bread. My stomach is thanking me," Tooru said with a bit of a laugh. The laugh sounded a bit hysterical and it was as if the boy was going a little crazy. But he probably was going crazy, because of the situation they were in. Hajime really didn't blame him. They were definitely getting desperate.

Hajime made a face at the bread before he brought it closer to his lips and he finally put it in his mouth. Just as Tooru had said, the bread was slightly stale and it had a bit more crunch to it than he was accustomed to. But it didn't have a terrible flavor to it, so that was what mattered, wasn't it? It was disgusting to think of what they were doing, and it was probably very unsanitary, but it was food. It was calories and they needed those to survive.

Hopefully they wouldn't get sick, but it was a risk they were taking by doing this.

The boys finished up their bread slices and they looked at one another. "Maybe we can find something else in here..." Tooru said as he eyed the trash. None of the other stuff seemed to be catching either of their eyes, but they were all scraps of food. "Maybe another bag."

Sighing, Hajime shook his head and he crouched down. "That was enough for now. If we get desperate enough again, we can try later. But I'll be okay for now. If you're not, then sure, go for another bag. But if you're doing it for me, please don't worry about it."

When Hajime had said that, Tooru looked up with a very offended, hurt look. "I do worry about you. You're like... my guardian out here. If I didn't have you, I don't know what I would do. Hajime, I just want you to be well fed and taken care of. You never had to worry about starving, so I'm going to be fine through all of this. But you were always given food and now you will have to do with so little. So I worry how you will handle it..." Tooru said as he reached for Hajime's hand.

The boys locked hands for a moment and they looked at each other as they were crouched over the garbage. It was kind of fitting for the situation they were in. They were wading their way through garbage, just like they were wandering through the unknown out in this new city, and it all seemed to be pretty bad and gross. But they were finding some good things about the city, just like they found that bread in the trash.

Hopefully their luck would turn around and they wouldn't have to dig through the trash for food for much longer, but they were both rather clueless about all of this and they were struggling their way through it all.

After they had their moment of holding hands, they did their best to clean up the mess and put it back in the dumpster. They did still have to sleep out there, so it wasn't as though they really wanted to sleep in garbage. They cleaned up the mess, and they tried to come up with a plan of action for the rest of their time out in this city.

Problem was, the boys were honestly so lost in everything. They had no idea what they were supposed to do. They weren't sure where to go, who to ask for help, or how to even get a proper meal without buying it. Things were such a struggle.

So they wandered around the city, scrounging around for spare change that had been dropped on the sidewalks and left on counters. They found a fair where they were having food for a charity event, so the boys pretended to be involved and got free soups and drinks. They disappeared the moment that the group was talking about donating to a certain organization, but they were sufficiently fed that night and it was really the only thing that mattered.

But it seemed like their luck was running out. Even with the spare change they had picked up and the free meal they had gotten, the two had been starting to get desperate again.

Two whole days without food had been enough for Tooru to start digging in the trash again. They went after the bag that had just been thrown in the trash, because said bag was most likely to have the freshest left over scraps of food. It was lucky that the boys had been digging through that bag, because there was a container of left overs that had been thrown away in the bag, and the two boys devoured the pasta meal that was in that container. It was so good that the two boys were near tears by the time they were done.

The two boys were getting sick of eating disgusting leftover food, but if that was what they had to do, that was what they would do.

Another two days had gone by without the promise of getting another meal from anywhere, so Hajime had looked in the dumpster, only to find that their choices were very slim that day. "Tooru, I don't know if we will get anything tonight... There's that bag, but we already looked in there. And then we could try that one, but it's too heavy to get out of-"

"Hey!"

Flinching so hard that he nearly fell back, Hajime scrambled to close up the dumpster and he looked at where the noise was coming from. Tooru had pressed himself up behind Hajime and he grabbed onto his shirt, shrinking down a little bit to make himself look smaller.

The yelling had been coming from the side door of the restaurant that employees had come out of to toss the trash into the dumpster. It had been a rather gruff looking man, though that may have been due to the shadow that was on him from the light of the building. "What are you two doing?"

Scrambling to grab their bag and reach for Tooru's hand, Hajime's eyes were wide with fear. He knew that they had screwed up and he knew that they were in trouble now. This was not supposed to happen, so why were they here? "N-nothing, sir. We're sorry... we will go," Iwaizumi said, bowing his head.

He could feel the way Oikawa had tensed up a bit, but they would have to go if the man didn't want them to stay. "I'll repeat what I said. What were you two doing? Have you two been the cause of our dumpster becoming a mess and getting a fine from the company that runs the dumpster? Because if you are, you have some explaining to do," he said as he started to walk towards the pair.

Tensing and taking a step back, Iwaizumi pushed Oikawa back with him and he could feel his breathing get harsher. What was this guy going to do to them? "We are so sorry, we really didn't mean for any of that to happen. W-we can clean the dumpster if you need us to and it won't happen again..."

The air stilled. As the man with a headband tied in his hair to keep it pulled back stared at the two boys, he reached up to scratch at the back of his head. "No, no, we cleaned it out already. I don't appreciate you two making a mess of it, but it was just a misunderstanding, right? What are the two of you doing digging through our dumpster anyway?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

When the man came further into the light, Iwaizumi could see that the man had dyed blonde hair, and he was pretty decently built. Iwaizumi definitely didn't want to see what this man was capable of, though it didn't seem that he really would have to at the given time, as he seemed to be softening a bit. "We were... uh..." Iwaizumi was embarrassed, and Oikawa was scared to the point of being silent. Iwaizumi could tell that the boy wasn't going to have any part in this conversation, because he couldn't make himself talk. So it would be up to Iwaizumi.

It seemed that the man had taken in the sight of the two boys. He didn't say anything for a while as he took in their appearances, but his face was lightening a bit and he was starting to see things a bit more clearly. "I'll be honest... W-we are homeless and we haven't had a proper meal in a few days. So... we dig through your trash when we get really desperate," Iwaizumi said, looking away in embarrassment. He could feel his cheeks heating up and he could feel the way the man was staring at him with pity. It was something he wasn't used to.

Oikawa squeezed Iwaizumi's hand tightly and Iwaizumi was doing everything he could to get the two of them out of this situation. "I see," said the man softly. He was still taking in their appearance, but he finally closed his eyes and he took a breath. "Why don't the two of you come back in with me? I can get you a proper meal and we can have a discussion about what needs to happen," he said.

This situation had just gotten a little more terrifying. The man was asking them to come inside. Was he going to punish them for what they had done to the dumpster? Was he going to cause them harm like everyone else in their lives had done? "It's okay. There are others in there right now, but the restaurant is getting quiet for the night, so I can let you have a seat and we can get you an actual proper meal. I don't want you two to be eating garbage. I'm surprised you two haven't gotten sick yet, to be completely honest," he said.

It was true. Hajime was actually worried about the potential of getting sick after eating like this. Was it worth giving this man a chance and actually trusting him to feed them properly? "Come on. I'll get you guys whatever you want. It will be on me, and you won't have to repay me. I just don't want you to keep eating garbage."

Hajime looked back to Tooru, who was frozen to the spot. Hajime couldn't get a read on how he was doing with all of this, so Hajime knew that he would have to make the call. On the one hand, they would be trusting a complete stranger to feed them and not hurt them afterward. On the other hand though, it could be an actual meal without any strings attached and they could be set for another couple of days without fearing when they were going to get more food. Not that the fear ever really went away, but it was nice not to have to worry about for a few hours.

Taking a breath, Hajime nodded slowly and he squeezed Tooru's hand when he let out a sound in protest. He knew that Tooru had social anxiety issues, mostly due to the fact that he was fairly isolated as a child. It was a miracle that he was even able to talk to the convenient store people. But Tooru was there, and he was still standing. So Hajime knew that if he was there, Tooru could do this too. "Good, let's go inside."

When the man turned around to walk back into the building, Hajime pulled Tooru's hand along and he was surprised when the boy pulled him back a little "We... w-why are we trusting him? Hajime, he could be dangerous..."  
With a breath, Hajime lifted his hand to Tooru's face, cupping his cheek. Tooru flinched gently, probably the reflex of thinking that he was going to be slapped, but then he leaned his cheek into Hajime's palm. "If anything happens, I will protect you. Not everyone is awful. I know that a lot of the world still in pretty bad, but we can't keep running in fear. We have to give people a chance and we have to let them decide how to affect our lives. If we keep running from everyone and everything, how can we ever live?" Hajime asked.

It was a true statement, and Tooru let out a sigh before his head dropped a bit. "I guess you're right. We can go inside..." he murmured before he looked towards the door and he nodded gently. He knew that this was going to be a bit of a trial and it would he hard, but he had Hajime. How bad could it really be?

That was when Hajime decided to keep walking with Tooru and he tugged on his hand just a little more before he hummed and smiled. It was terrifying to trust people, but if they were going to survive in this world, it was something they would have to do.

As they stepped inside the building, the manager motioned for the boys to follow him down a hallway. There were loud noises and yelling was happening, so Hajime became just a little more frightened of what he had volunteered them to do, but that was when the hallway opened up to a restaurant dining room. There were a few people in there who were sitting at tables and chatting quietly, there was soft music playing, and there were people in the same colored uniforms walking around with trays and other plates of food.

Neither boy had ever stepped foot into a restaurant, so they were both immensely impressed by what they were seeing. "I'll have you two take a seat over here. Could I get you some drinks first? We have a few juices, soft drinks, you name it."

The two boys looked at one another, just a little nervous about what they were stepping into now. "O-oh, uh... w-"

"What kind of juice?" Hajime asked. He was going to get all he could out of this. If the man was offering them juice or soda, he would take something that wasn't calorie free, even though water was always welcomed.

Smiling, the man hummed. "We have grape juice, apple juice, orange juice, lemonade..."

Like Christmas tree lights, Tooru's eyes glittered at the sound of lemonade and Hajime had noticed that. "Could we both have lemonade? If that's not too much of a bother?" Hajime asked softly before he pulled out a chair and took a seat, having Tooru do the same.

The man nodded and he walked away, leaving the two boys alone. "What if he's lying to us about it being free? What if he's expecting us to pay for it some how? We don't have any money and we are struggling to even find change on the ground. We don't have enough for anything at the gas station yet," Tooru said with a bit of a pout.

Shrugging a bit, Hajime thought for a moment about the fact that this really might be a trick of some sort, or the man really could just believe they had money. But they could just run if they really had to, right? "We will figure it out. He seems nice enough, Tooru. He offered to let us come inside. I don't know about you, but I didn't realize just how cold it was out there. You have color returning to your cheeks, and you're not shaking anymore," said Hajime.

It seemed that Tooru had noticed just how right Hajime had been, as he looked down at himself and he blinked a little bit. "I'm really not as cold. But now I'm worried that I will get sick. I'm worried you will get sick too," Tooru said as he bit his lip. Things were definitely in an uncharted territory for the both of them right now, but they really couldn't afford to say no to this opportunity. They had to try, didn't they?

After another few moments of sitting in silence and looking around, the man had come back over to the pair of them and took a seat on the opposite side of the table, looking at the two of them. He handed them each some sort of laminated paper, which was decorated and had words on it. Then a different girl offered the two of them some glasses of lemonade, complete with fresh lemons on top and straws with no wrappers.

As the two boys looked at the drinks, they questioned the glasses before they looked up to the man sat at the table. "Go on, don't be shy," the man had said with a smile. "You two can choose anything you'd like on that menu, too. I would like to hear more about the two of you, but we can get to that shortly," he said before he looked over to the girl standing next to the table. "Go check on your other tables and come back, dear. They're not going to be ready yet," the man said. The girl nodded curtly before excusing herself.

Tentatively reaching across to his glass, Hajime pulled it closer to his lips and he took a sip from the straw. It was very great lemonade, and it made Hajime wonder if it was made fresh in the restaurant. He took another sip before he set his glass down and nodded to Tooru in approval to take a sip. The boy reached out for the glass quickly and did the same. It was clear that the boy loved the drink, as he downed half of the glass in just seconds.

"So, about digging around in my dumpster," said the man. There was no venom in the tone, there was no malice or anything to suggest that the man was frustrated in any way. He was just making conversation. "I know why you two are doing it, and even though it is disgusting, I'm glad that you were able to keep yourselves fed some how. But it does have to stop," he said as he leaned back in his chair.

Taking a breath, Hajime nodded and he looked down at his hand, clenching his fingers into his palm tightly. "We're sorry, sir. We just have no place else to go. Honestly, neither of us wanted to tell you exactly what was going on, because we are fearful of you turning us in. But.. we can't go back to where we were. We have to stay out here, so no one can know we are here," Hajime said. His eyes looked up to the man and he swallowed thickly, hoping that his man wouldn't be an enemy of theirs.

Soft eyes turned on the two boys. "For one, call me Ukai. Sir isn't really my thing. Two, I can understand not wanting to go back somewhere. You two are what... fifteen? It's dangerous for you two to be out here alone, particularly with no money. I'm going to look into a few options for you if that's okay," Ukai said as he looked over the two.

That was when Tooru and Hajime tensed up. "N-no, please don't look into options for us... we are okay on our own," Hajime said as he sat up straight. Ukai clearly didn't understand the situation if he was suggesting that he could look into options for the two boys. He obviously didn't know that they couldn't go back home if he was willing to risk putting their names out there.

Ukai rose his eyebrow. "Boys, you can't keep sleeping on the streets, especially not next to my dumpster. I'm going to call some friends of mine, or I will ask around here to see if there's anyone with a couple of extra beds, or even just a floor to sleep on. I won't turn you in. I won't let anyone else know you are here. I'm just worried about your safety, okay?" Ukai said as he looked at Hajime. "Have you tried getting a job? Having some money to get a room for a while would do you two some good. You'd have a bed, a warm shower, and most motels have snacks or free breakfasts," Ukai said.

With that thought, Tooru shrunk down a little and Hajime put a hand on his thigh, trying to calm him down. "He seems trustworthy enough, Tooru. He won't turn us in, okay? We can trust him," Hajime said softly. Not that he was too keen on trusting this man, but he was hopeful that he could. "No, we haven't tried to get jobs. We don't really know how to, nor do we know where to look," Hajime said with his shoulders held high and his eyes narrowed on the man.

Humming a bit, Ukai looked over at the server that was approaching their table again. Hajime had to guess that she was a server, anyway. This was probably her job. "They still need more time, dear. Sorry to keep you waiting," he said as he flashed the girl a smile. She nodded and wandered off somewhere else before Ukai looked back to the boys. "Well, why don't I make you a bit of a deal then, boys? I could offer one of you two a job, and the two of you will promise to not sleep next to my dumpster anymore and promise not to eat from there. What do you say?" he asked with a smile on his face.

Hajime's face brightened up and his eyebrows raised before he looked at Tooru. "A... a job? Where I'd get paid...?" Hajime knew that he would eventually be thrown into the worker's field and would have to have a job anyway, but the thought of having a job where he could actually make money for himself and Tooru would create a whole new playing field.

As the man looked over Hajime and Tooru, he nodded gently and he sat back up. "Yes, a job where you get paid. It would only be minimum wage, but I could offer you 30 hours a week and that would mean a paycheck of over 27,000 yen a week. What do you say?" Ukai asked. There was a bit of a grin on his face and the two boys looked at each other.

Taking a breath, Hajime looked at Ukai. "Could we have a moment to discuss this? It's just a lot all at once. We appreciate you offering us a meal and to get out of the cold, but... it's just a lot to think about, you know? Maybe we could eat and sit on it for a bit?" Hajime asked. Tooru was clearly not in the correct talking mood, so Hajime was taking over for him.

After contemplation, Ukai nodded and slowly stood up. "Take a look at the menu and let the server know what you want. It's free of charge for tonight. I'll be back over when you two have your food," he said before he excused himself.

Lifting his hand from Tooru's thigh, he placed it over Tooru's hand instead. His eyes were full of hope and wonder. This could be a great opportunity for the two of them. "Tooru... we could start making a life for ourselves. We could finally be getting off the streets and we could have somewhere to go... For the first time, Tooru, this could be something great for us," Hajime said with a bit of excitement.

It didn't seem like Tooru was as hopeful, though. His face was full of fear and hesitation, which Hajime was reading. He knew that they needed to be careful, but was it worth staying on the street if they could have an opportunity to get off the street and in a place they would actually have a bed? They were sleeping on cardboard boxes in an alley, next to a dumpster that they were fishing for meals out of. Didn't they have to try everything they could to better themselves? "Hajime... What if... what if he turns us in, or what if someone finds out about us and we have to go back? I don't trust any of this and I don't want to go back..."

Grunting a bit and looking down to his menu, Hajime removed his hand from Tooru's hand and started to scan over the options for food. "Maybe we should eat and think about this a little more. It could be one of the best things for us. But if you don't want to do this, we don't have to," Hajime said.

"I'm just worried to lose you," Tooru said quietly after a few moments. His eyes were glued to the menu and his face was back to being white, even though it wasn't cold in the building. "I can't lose you... You're the only thing I have."

 

When Tooru said that, Hajime's face softened. His thoughts were all over the place at the moment and he wasn't sure he could be mad at Tooru. He knew the boy was just being hopeful, and he knew that they really did need to stick together, but his fears were a bit misplaced, weren't they? "I know, Tooru. I know. We won't lose each other though. We just have to try, okay? We have to try to move forward and we can keep pushing until we have our own place to stay and we have figured this world out," Hajime said.

As Tooru was about to speak, he noticed that the waitress had come back over and smiled to the two boys, asking if they were ready to order. Hajime pointed at the menu for the both of them and handed the menus to her before she excused herself and the two boys went back to their conversation. "Yeah, we... we can try. But any hint of this whole thing going downhill, we are out of here, okay? I don't want to lose you, but we have to try, you're right. I can start looking for a job too, because it shouldn't be on just you to hold a job."

The two boys smiled at one another as they thought about the possibilities their life could bring to them. They were starting over. They were starting anew and they had their whole lives ahead of them to figure out where to go and what to do from here on out. They would stumble along the way, absolutely, but they were sure they could figure out where to go from here.

As long as they weren't going back to their parents, things would be better than they were.

It didn't take long for the server to bring them both their meals. They were warm foods, and each boy was nearly weeping as they ate their warm meals. As promised, Ukai came back over and took a seat as he watched the two of them eat. "Wow, you two really are hungry, aren't you?" he asked.

Tooru flinched back, but Hajime just looked up and tensed a bit. "Yeah, we haven't been eating well at all. Just enough to get us by. I feel guilty for eating all of this now, because I wanted left overs for tomorrow. But... it's just so good," Hajime said with a little embarrassment.

A booming laugh came out of Ukai's mouth. "Eat it all. I'll have to kitchen prepare you two some things to take with you, okay? I don't want you sleeping in the alley tonight, so will you two find somewhere else to stay while I'm out looking for a place for you to go?" Ukai asked.

With a breath, Hajime nodded slowly. "Yeah, we... we will find someone to help us," Hajime said before he looked over to Tooru. "About that job offer... When can I start?" he asked before he turned his eyes back to Ukai.

"Next week on Monday, come in and we will get you set up. So in... four more days, alright? Come back tomorrow and see if I have anywhere else for you two to stay. Keep your heads high, boys." Ukai gave them two a smile and he cleared his throat. "You know what? Forget about finding someplace else to go. There's a hotel a couple of blocks from here. After we close, I'll take you over there and set you up with a room for two nights. Then you two don't have to sleep in the cold and dark while I'm finding someplace else for you to go."

Was this man for real? Was he really trying to save them and offering them a hotel room for the night? Hajime looked at Tooru, who was again beginning to look a bit panicked. "We... we couldn't ask you to-"

"This one isn't for free. I will take it out of your pay for the first week. But you do need to come to work showered and with clean clothes. I have a place to get you clothes too for very cheap, so we can find something suitable for you to wear on your first day," Ukai said as he took a breath. "You two can sit in here until we close, then I'll take you to the hotel and get you set up," Ukai said and he slowly pushed himself up to stand. "I'll have the kitchen whip up a few more foods to take with you so you don't have to go hungry. Any specific requests?" Ukai asked.

Tooru looked up and had wide eyes. "M-more lemonade?" Tooru asked. Hajime was so proud of the boy for speaking up and asking for what he wanted. It was such a big step for the boy and Hajime couldn't have asked for more. Ukai laughed gently and nodded. "We make it fresh, so you can take any leftovers we have for the night. It's usually a lot, so you'll have a lot of lemonade," Ukai said.

Things were finally looking up for the pair. They were finally starting to have hope once more and maybe things would be okay again. As long as they didn't go back to what they were before, the boys were willing to try to make their lives better.

Didn't they have to at least try?

**Author's Note:**

> So it starts slow. Anyone have any ideas of what might happen?


End file.
